The new building is an addition to an existing nursing building designed by Jerry Ford in the mid seventies; it adds two 5-room suites. The addition stylistically bridges between the 1970's institutional building that it is attaching to and the "cottage" setting that is the recent model for facilities on the campus. 

Ford 3 incorporated the following elements during the design process to reduce environmental impact as well as energy consumption and associated costs: High performance geothermal heating and cooling, High performance insulation, Energy star appliances, Renewable and recycled building materials, High interior environmental air quality & Solar hot water.